The Empath and the Seer
by CharroFarro
Summary: The story of Jasper Whitlock, from when he met Maria, to when he met Alice. It's in Jasper's POV. Romance between Jasper and Maria, and how Jasper is as a Newborn. I hope you like it!
1. Just A Young Boy

Disclaimer! Stephenie Meyer owns all.

I remember when I could still cry. Of course, I didn't cry often. I always told myself I had to be strong for my mother, who lived with my father, John Whitlock III. He always told me I wasn't good enough to be the forth, so I was just named Jasper but my mother explained it differently.

"Jasper," she spoke, her voice high and full of pride. "It's a gemstone of a name really," she laughed. "But you're more valuable to me than a hundred of those."

I suppose you could say that my father didn't think much of me. He would have respected me more if I wasn't such an emotional child. Truth be told, I never understood why I was like the way I was.

"_Empathy" - _I know it now.

My father caught me once, six-years-old, shedding a tear when I grazed my knee. He told me I should grow up and become a man and that I should be in control of my own feelings.

"If you can't manage your own emotions, how are you going to handle a woman?"

As I got older, seeing my mother being bossed about by my father was a normal part of my life. That's not to say nothing no longer had any affect on me. My mother, protecting me with her strong façade, always gave me the necessary reassurance to ease my worry. She had told me, in a voice that was dead and controlled,

"Don't worry, Jasper. In this day and age, all women like me are treated this way."

I couldn't believe it. I wouldn't. Women: daughters, mothers, sisters, aunties…

Cecilia Carbridge from next door. We had played together as children and we were best friends, almost betrothed. I say 'almost' because apparently I ruined my chance.

It was just after midday in the spring of 1848. Cecilia and I had been playing in the field. I had only just turned five-years-old and she, two years older than me, was looking after me. I remember how fascinated I was with her and the way her light brown hair bounced in the wind, the hemline of her frilly dress twirling gracefully as she ran.

"My daddy says God controls our destinies," she spoke, slightly breathless from rushing towards me. Her cheeks were pink from the cool air but the sun caught her eyes and they sparkled - glistening pools of rich hazelnut. Mine were unexciting - merely a dull mixture of green and brown. Her father was a pastor at our church and she was just about as enthusiastic about religion as he was. All day she had been quoting from the Scriptures, searching for comfort as her horse had died.

"You know," I began, pushing my blond curls away from my face, "I can see you're upset, Cecilia but you shouldn't be. You believe in God. I'm sure there's a horse heaven," I smiled as she shook her head and then continued. "I wish I could help you. Don't be sad." I raised my eyebrows at Cecilia, who stood in the daises, perplexed, and then squinted.

"I'm not sad."

"Not anymore," I grinned and began running around the field we were in. She caught up with me of course.

"How did you do that?"

"I didn't do anything," I replied, looking down at my shoes, finding the shoelaces all of a sudden incredibly interesting.

"You did. I don't feel upset. You did something."

"You're crazy." She certainly sounded it. All I could do was shrug at her words. As if I knew witchcraft or something! "Maybe it was God who took away your pain. I really shouldn't take credit for that. That's just crazy, Cecilia."

"I didn't pray."

"Well, maybe you didn't need to." The air was suddenly tight in my throat. Maybe I had helped but even if I did, I was rather hoping that she would take it all as a joke - but then again, how can you fool around with something like this? It's improper. I would simply have to make her believe it. Surely, an offensive fact is better than an irreligious joke. Without thinking, I sprinted up to her - the small four feet away - and almost crashed into her. She was hugely taller than I was but I wasn't in the slightest bit intimidated.

"It's true!" I spat out, frowning directly into her eyes. I had lent into her so closely that I could smell the sweet honeysuckle scent that was embedded into her cotton dress. I hadn't realised until now that I was breathing rather heavily, as if I could feel her reluctant disbelief seeping straight off her.

"Angels visit prophets. You're just… Jasper." The way she had said that, as if I meant nothing more to her than the strand of grass that was stuck in her hair.

I would make her believe it.

"You've told me stories all day, Cecilia. Some sound unlikely but you believe them to be true. What about my story? I may just be a kid with a mighty lot of pretence but… maybe I'm not. What do you believe?" I wanted her to believe me. Not that it would change anything but I wanted to try something. My mother had told me that I had uncanny abilities in persuasion. Would it work for everyone? I blinked at her.

"Jasper, I do believe that you are telling the truth. I've got to go tell my daddy!" As she hurried through that sentence, she leapt out of our comfort zone and began tearing through the spring wind, leaving nothing but her footprints behind.

Oh dear.

I called after her but she was already convinced and this meant I really was in trouble.

"Well, damn my influence," I muttered as I strolled my way back home.

I took my time - I most definitely was not in any rush - and thought about what I had just done. Powers of persuasion. It sounded nice - special even - but no doubt incredibly dangerous for those around me. What exactly had I done? I looked right into her eyes and spoke with meaning. Is that all it took? Apparently so.

I later on found out that it wasn't as strong as I initially thought. My father beat me that night for being blasphemous and no matter how much I tried to get him to stop, he wouldn't. It only lasted a little while but during that time, I could see my mother, her face writhed in pain as his belt struck down on me for the twelfth time. It hurt her, just like it hurt me but I knew that deep down inside, she felt I deserved it and I suppose I did. I should have never used my charisma on the pastor's daughter.

That's how my betrothed quickly became the girl I merely saw at Church.

As years passed, the incident was just a speck of dust in a trashcan. That's not to say her family didn't think of me as a bad influence. If I looked at Cecilia even the slightest bit inappropriately at Church - or God forbid, anywhere else - Mr and Mrs Carbridge would take their daughter away for a few days, allowing me to get over, as it were, my 'need' for Cecilia. Ridiculous. I wasn't in love with her. I was merely fascinated with her. She had grown breasts over the summer. God bless that family's souls though, they did give me a chance in the beginning.


	2. A New Beginning

The year was 1857 when my father died from suffocation. He had been drunk and had stumbled into a river. Typical. He was forty-one and I was just fourteen-years-old.

The Carbridges were Christian enough to leave a basket of fruit on our front porch.

It felt strange. Even though I had always resented my father, I couldn't help but mourn him. He had been my father figure - perhaps not a very great one but a father all the same - and my mother did love him, no matter how hard he hit her when his potatoes were a fraction undercooked. It was just me and her for a few months before Malone joined us. She was thirty-one - a little past her prime but she had still managed to reap in another man. I suspect that she already knew him even before her marriage with my father had ended but I couldn't care less. He loved her and treated her well. That's all that had ever mattered.

"The north have a problem with us, Caroline," I heard Malone say to my mother one day. "They got them Niggers living the luxury up there - and they have a problem with us! I tell you, it's wrong," he concluded, stabbing his fork into the meat that was on his plate. "We ought to get ourselves a black worker, Caroline. Give some time for yourself and the boy," he said, signalling with his elbow pointed towards me. "I mean, why not? I bring in the money now." It was true that we had been more well off with Malone but having 'slaves' were more for the upper class and we weren't quite there yet. Nonetheless, he desperately kept trying to make us fit in with the higher rank of society, failing as he did so. Even when I walked into Church with a brand new Sunday suit, thanks to Malone, I was looked down upon.

You see, where we lived, gossip spread faster than flames.

"_Did y'all hear about Mrs Whitlock's boy? Apparently he's been caught in embezzlement. I hear that Mr Malone beat him hard."_

"_Let's hope. It's not the first time that boy has been caught in the act of something."_

"_That boy is going straight to hell, mark my words."_

This carried on for a few weeks and happened each time I opened the doors to the Church. All the snidely insignificant elders attempting to gain potential, I suppose.

Of course I was bitter about it. How dare they speculate over something I had never even done or thought of doing. I ought to prove to them wrong.

I was seventeen, almost eighteen years of age, when that time came.

"Jasper Whitlock." Cecilia protested. Beautiful Cecilia, a mother of two girls and a wife of a man who could afford all she wanted. "If you die out on that battle field, you'll go straight to the depths of hell. Don't you dare think you can lie about your age and get away with it." By now her voice was just an echo in my mind. All these years I had been wrongly accused as trouble because of one thing I did at the age of five. I most certainly was not going to be influenced into staying. I'd face the shame of sin. I had to prove my worth and for three years, I did just that.

At first, my mother's letters were furious, begging me to come home, stating it was simply far too dangerous for a mere child to go out and fight this Civil War but as the years passed, I was still fighting and once I told her I had made Major, she couldn't be more accepting of the fact that I'd gone to war. She told all the folk about it back at home and beamed with pride - for the first time in a while - when my name was mentioned in conversations. I was in control and people looked up to me. I was their superior and used my powers of persuasion to make them do things I wouldn't.

To this day, I could still look back on Cecilia's words and think that perhaps she had been right. How could I have ever gotten away with such an anti-Christian, heinous crime of a little white lie? Really.

I was twenty years of age the first time I died. It's truly a sad sight when you can't even attend your own funeral but I had been captured and it was all over so quickly.

"He's speechless," a girl with long golden hair had stated. I only found out her name was Nettie three days later. There was another woman, who I could only assume to be Nettie's sister, again extravagantly beautiful. She was slightly shorter than her other sister but her hair was fairer - white-blonde in fact. My eyes narrowed in an utter state of bewilderment as she approached me. As she deeply inhaled my scent in, she spoke, her voice fine and gentle.

"Mmm, lovely." I had never seen such magnificent creatures before. I suppose that's what you could call them. Far too eye-catching to simply be called a mere human. There was one more lady. She was much shorter than her the others and had dark chestnut hair, which matched her clear Mexican features. However, her skin was pale, just like Nettie's had been, as well as her sister's. Incredibly pale but never sick looking.

"Concentrate, Lucy," she spoke. Her voice was stern and serious, yet still so light and delicate. She controlled her sisters - that much was obvious, though I was still caught in my manner of stubborn confusion. I didn't know why or how they were behaving this way. Were they angels? Is this what Cecilia had been ranting on about all those years ago? However, that is not something I could believe. I could not sense that they were harmless or full of innocence of manipulation and sin. They were here on a mission, just like I was. "He looks right - young, strong, an officer." I hadn't realised before that I was struggling to breathe. Words were caught in my throat and just like what Nettie had stated, I was speechless. "And there's something more. Do you sense it? He's… compelling." I was, that was true, but it seemed to me that I had no other choice. I couldn't just behave like my father would have in these same circumstances. I was taught better than that, to treat women with respect. That's what my mother had told me and I had promised. Besides, there was no difficultly in being the southern gentleman, especially in front of such elegance. Lucy agreed with the brunette as she approached me once more. She was scorned at by the others. "Patience. I want to keep this one." My mind dazed out as the smallest one - who's name I had learnt to be Maria - fixated upon me, her stare never leaving my face. She had ordered the others to leave and they did, smiling as if they knew I would see them again later. When Maria and I were alone, she asked me my name and I gave it to her. Then she lent into me, frighteningly close and breathed in.

"I truly hope you survive, Jasper. I have a good feeling about you."

That was when the pain began. It surged through me as I fell to the ground, clutching at my chest, as if I could will the pain to stop. What had just happened? No, no, what was happening? I was burning. She must have set me alight but there was no flame. There was nothing, just persistent pain, throbbing at my very core. My neck was the cause and it felt as if the skin there was ripping apart. Maria hovered over me, as an onlooker and smiled. It wasn't a friendly or a warm smile. It was evil and I had met it's master.

It started off with excruciating pain as the venom took it's course, it's endless journey through my defenceless human body as her poison turned my blood cells into venom, my own brand of paralysing toxin. When the monstrous substance finally reached my heart, it claimed it's last beat and I was no longer Jasper Whitlock, human and vulnerable. I was one of them. My body was intact in it's timeless form, frozen in one place and forever twenty.


	3. My First Hunt

This transformation lasted for three days and on the final day, I awoke from my unconsciousness. It was incredibly difficult to stay aware of my surroundings whilst the pain had soared through me but when it had finally headed towards the end, I allowed my eyes to open. Someone had brought me here - the three beautiful angels. Or were they witches? I had never believed in witchcraft but there seemed to be no rational explanation for this. I reached up and grabbed at my neck. No blood, nor any tenderness. Just fire. Again with the fire. The burning scourge! It wouldn't go. My thoughts went straight to my mother. I didn't know how she would react but a controlled part of me no longer cared what she thought. All I could picture was… biting her. It sounded horribly sick. I wanted to feel her blood run down my throat, the sweet bitterness at my lips, filling me up until my thirst was quenched. That was what it was. The most vigorous thirst I had ever experienced and it was dominating my entire being.

"Why, Major, you're awake," a teasing voice had said. I realised I was already sat up from this makeshift bed of books and discarded ragged clothes. Maria was knelt down beside me. "I hope you had a good rest. It's the last sleep we have." She brought her hand up and stroked the side of my face, before I twitched her off. She didn't seem to be offended. "You're thirsty. It'll make you irritable," she smiled, almost as if she enjoyed picturing the aggravation. "But I suppose you need to go hunt first."

_Hunt? First?_

Before what? And how could she tell that I was thirsty?

"Amazing. You're sending out confusion. I knew I had made the right decision."

How mystifying. I smiled, not even comprehending why I felt a sudden sensation of amusement and why I literally felt differently. As she laughed, I smiled - unsure as it was, there was obviously something humorous to be found. "My sweet, you're an Empath." She grasped my hand and pulled me upwards, so that we were face to face. She was still shorter than me. An Empath - I'd never heard of one of those before. "Confused again?" She resumed laughing. "This has become very interesting. I'm assuming you have a highly developed sense of empathy, which would able you to manipulate the emotions around others. If you want to try it out, Nettie would be honoured," Maria grinned, flashing her perfect white teeth. I grimaced. Nettie was exceedingly beautiful but all I could think about was sinking my teeth into my mother's neck or any human's as a matter of fact. Maria picked up on this. "But you really do need to hunt first."

If someone had mentioned the word 'hunt' to me a few weeks ago, my initial thought would have been of muskets and bayonets but when Maria grabbed my hand and led me outside into an ordinary street, my instincts kicked in. I sniffed the air, inhaling the potent scents that were carried in the breeze. It was dusk and all the children had gone inside already. Damn them. Elderly husbands - the ones that couldn't fight in the war - were just coming back from work, making this a perfect time to satisfy my hunger. I could smell them getting closer and with each step they took, the fire in my throat pleaded harder to be doused. Their scents were growing stronger and I could smell the stale sweat that lingered on their moist shirts.

"Can you smell them, Jasper?" I could. She knew I could! Oh, they were nearing - they were nearing! The smell was faint - far away - but they were nearing! When the wind blew my way, I began to run towards their scent, letting out an unexpected growl as I did so. My senses were overpowered and their scent - these men's scent - were delightful, mouth-watering. I saw the first one in a matter of seconds. He looked up at me, momentarily a gentleman as he smiled, before his expression turned hastily to fear. Such fear, such negligence! He's mine! I pounced at him and instinctively pierced my teeth through the man's fragile skin of his neck. His warm blood surged into my mouth and poured down my throat - there was so much of it! So much but not enough. I needed more! At that moment, Maria stood behind me. I could feel her emotions radiating. She felt happiness and pride - for me! For the first time in my life, I had done something right. Then the other one came. He was just around the corner. I spun around, facing Maria and growled at her. This one was mine also! I ambushed him to the frozen mudded ground and once again dug my teeth into the tender skin, drinking the sweet red liquid that flowed out and streamed down my throat like honey. He had felt such terror as I lunged myself at him, those final moments full of panic as he attempted to struggle free. He was dead before he could even scream help. There were no more men after that. Why, I swear I had smelt more. Maria, feeling my confusion, spoke out.

"Lucy and Nettie got their share too." I snarled as the anger boiled up inside of me. "Now, Jasper, my sweet, you've got to learn to control your emotions better than that." She was right. My feelings were on display and I no longer had any privacy - forever exposed. As I stood up from the corpse on the ground, I stared into Maria's eyes. She was smirking at me, planning for me whatever lay ahead. My destiny.

"Maria?" Her expression softened as I spoke her name and for the first time, she looked truly beautiful. Not physically, like I had noted before but it was the sort of magnificence that made you stop dead in your tracks - literally in my case. I realised she was waiting for me to continue and so I did - with slight disorientation that she had caused me. "What am I?" It was a simple enough question, merely three words. It was just the answer that I was not anticipating. Maria strode towards me with such poise that it had me distracted once again. I only focused when I felt her hand brush against my face and her sweet breath upon my lips.

"You're a vampire," she whispered confidently. I suppressed my laughter at the word. A vampire? Surely they were only folklores, not necessarily true, just like witches. "It's no joke, Jasper. Just turn around and see for yourself." I knew what she was referring to. The ravaged corpse behind me was plain evidence of what I was. Selfish as it sounds, he didn't matter to me. His blood was what I had needed and there was no time to say grace, for he was already gone. Anyhow, there was no point in contradicting the laws of Christianity. "This is what you are," she spoke. I would have thought that comment suited a tone more for disgust but she seemed to be quite pleasured by the idea of it. Leastways, that is what her emotions were telling me.

"And you like that." It was a statement, not a question. "Your feelings…" I added, as if she needed an explanation to how I came up with my conclusion. Maria just laughed.

"Newborns have always fascinated me. Such temper, such confused little beings." It seemed to me that she was just describing an adolescent. In a sense, that is what we were. We weren't matured but we were potentially. "Just like you." she paused, smiling at me playfully. "That is why we have to begin training as soon as possible."

"Training?" I allowed my voice to rise in uncertainty. There was no use in attempting to conceal my emotions. Maria smirked before turning her back on me.

"You can't teach an old dog new tricks, Jasper Whitlock…" She suddenly spun around, so fast that I felt the air shift, and grinned in my direction. "And what new tricks they are. Follow me." On her order, I did just that and we sped down the street. By now the sky had grown dark and all the delicious humans were safely indoors. I attempted to catch a glimpse of their blood-filled rosy cheeks as we ran past their houses but it was only now that I realised how exceptionally quick we were moving. The beam from their candles were mere horizontal lines of light in a canvas of black and as I turned towards Maria, for some sort of justification, she had already stopped. "Confusion - it's what you're feeling all the time! Take everything you once knew and forget it. You are a different species now. They'll be changes. We run faster than sound, we can jump great distances. We survive on human blood but cannot stomach their futile food. We don't sleep, we're immortal and have unbelievable strength. I must let you know all this before we begin the training. You're a newborn, Jasper. All the qualities in our kind have been intensified in you. This is the strongest you'll ever be but you are not skilled yet. With you becoming increasingly out of control, you will develop into a dangerous predator, more lethal than a thousands flying knifes." As she said this, her hand reached up and gently grazed against my face. "You're shocked." Of course I was. I had experienced death furiously on the battle fields. If I were to be more deadly than both armies put together… well, that was just not understandable. "All it takes is one bite. We don't bleed, for our hearts don't beat. We're invincible. Doesn't that sound nice?" It did sound wonderful. Everlasting and unbeatable. If I were to be fighting in the war now, the south would win. There would be no doubt about it. However, I was still confused. I had so much to question.

"No blood?" I asked. Maria smirked at me as if she knew more information that she would give out. Of course she did. She shook her head, sighing, but not mournfully.

"None at all. The blood we take from our victims becomes a part of us. We're drinking life and it burns up inside of us, into our venom - satisfying us. Do you see my eyes, Jasper?" I looked into them. It was dark but I saw the colour there, co-existing with her beautiful pale skin. Such redness, such fury. I had noticed her eyes before but now I would find out what it meant. "The red tells us the story like it is. Filled with the nectar of life. Our eyes are empty, pitch-black, when we are thirsty." I can't say that none of this shocked me. It was a frightening thought. That's how she could tell that I was thirsty. I truly had no more privacy. Disappointing really but I suppose with every silver lining there is a cloud. Maria grabbed my hand as she smiled. "There shall be no need for disappointment, my sweet. I can already see that we will become great partners." I had believed her. There was no way I couldn't, not with her smiling up at me like that. She allowed pride to feel her, with just a hint of happiness but that was enough for me. "Let's start," she said, her hand grasped in mine as she pulled me with her through the night. I had a feeling my life had began.


	4. Plans

It took us approximately half a minute to get from where we were standing to Maria's 'residence', if I could even call it that. It was never permanent - it was purely a place to stay and be trained for a few days, before moving onto a different setting. Maria preferred it that way. Nettie and Lucy were somewhat unlike. I could only assume that they stayed with Maria simply for the human blood she had provided. After all, three attractive women would gain a man's attention better than one or two could.

I would know.

Maria's temporary dwelling was simply an old storage barn situated on a secluded body of land - a desert really. The wide wooden doors of the barn shut out light, making it easier for them to go unnoticed - that is if anyone passed by and caught a glimpse. It seemed to me that not many people would voluntarily walk in this part of town or even find it. It was forsaken and unkempt but it was the perfect hideout for a group of vampires. The earth around the barn was so dry and dusty that waves of dirt were spread just by walking. The inside wasn't any better. The ground was the same and in the far corner of the barn laid bones of an old animal, possibly a goat. In the other corner seemed to be a small workspace. That was where I had woken up. It was a dingy little area and the termite-attacked desk had fallen to the floor but I suppose that was where the farmer would have worked if he weren't busy rattling up his animals and selling them to the local butcher or even procrastinating by the looks of it. There were still heaps of unfinished documents: orders, bills, money notes and checks that had still to be placed in the bank. He must have left in a hurry or most likely, Maria got to him first. It certainly would have explained the worn out clothes that covered the books I had woken up on.

"Lucy and Nettie are luring a couple of men here - unscathed, I hope," Maria spoke, her voice an octave lower than usual. "Those girls would kill them if they had the chance," she finished, sighing nonchalantly. A death to another human wasn't something she worried about. Not that she was worrying. Her emotions told me that she was unconcerned, yet a slight bubble of excitement was rising up inside of her. I could only feel anxious as I awaited my training. I didn't know what it consisted or what I would have to participate in. Maria turned to me and smiled. "You needn't fret, my sweet. It gives us our kind such pleasure." Suddenly I was feeling more than one person's enthusiasm but it was expectant, mixed with curiosity and apprehension. I had a feeling that Nettie and Lucy were back, their props retrieved for this particular demonstration. The entire ordeal felt slightly unnecessary but when I caught the scent of the two men that came in with them, nothing else mattered. The warm blood that was pulsating through their veins had me on a high. I hadn't even been thirsty but their scent was enough to make my throat ache, a dull discomfort that gave me a constant reminder of what I was. However, I no longer cared.

"Sorry we're late!" Lucy remarked, winking to Maria. "The first two attempts didn't work out so well. You see," she spoke, standing in front of the man she had brought as she teasingly began running her hands over the his mucky shirt, "Nettie got overexcited and well…" I couldn't understand how she could resist his blood. He was standing right in front of her, completely unprotected, vulnerable and tempting. It was so easy to just… bite… "The other male saw and got frightened, the poor thing. I took care of him though." As she said that, she grinned and faced Maria. We knew what that meant. "But don't worry, sister. These ones are just as pathetic." The men didn't seem to mind being named as that. They were just like I was: incredibly irrational and unaware to their danger, so much so that I almost - almost! - felt pity on their behalf. One of the men noted that I was there and filled up with misunderstanding, until he took the time to count that the number of females matched the number of males. What a waste of shameless optimism...

"Good work, girls. You've already been rewarded for today. Stand back and observe whilst I take care of these gentlemen. Jasper, my sweet, you must watch." Maria hadn't made eye contact with me as she said that. Her gaze was upon the men's ripe necks, as was mine. "And Lucy, be a dear and hold back Nettie and Jasper. You know they won't be able to control themselves." As she had said that, she glanced over at me, a stern expression formed on her face. "These men are mine and you must resist their blood." I had an inkling she had directed that comment mainly to me. I suppose it was necessary. Without even realising, my breathing had become rapid from attempting to take in as much of their scent as possible. It wasn't a good idea - what, with them in such close proximity and all. Lucy was stood in front of Nettie and I, her arms outstretched, like she was shielding us. What a silly notion... It wasn't us that needed protection. Maria swiftly approached the men, her elegant movement capturing the humans. I could suddenly feel their confusion - or what it mine? - to what was going to happen. I only had a slight idea because the same thing had happened to me. At the time, I knew I was in danger, yet -

"Ignorance," I muttered under my breath. It was still loud enough to be heard by the three vampires that stood with sophistication. I could see Nettie smirk in the corner of my eye, her feelings of amusement escaping as she grabbed at my arm.

"Watch. This is the best bit."

Maria lent into the younger man, he couldn't have been older than twenty-five, and brushed her lips across his jaw, to his chin, until she reached his throat. The man stood rigid, not breathing, not blinking, and allowed her to press her mouth against his skin. He quivered a little as the icy lips trailed along his Adam's apple to his neck. The older man, I'd say in his forties, was intent on what Maria was doing, narrowing his eyes every now and then as she glimpsed at him. I'm sure he had never seen such beauty in his life. He began feeling wonder and impatience. He'd get his turn of course. Maria finally ran her tongue down the man's skin before it all ended, concluding his life as his screams left his mouth more like a gasp, with added wheeze. She had really dug her teeth into his gullet. Too painful to scream, too painful not to. It was then the older man's eyes gaped wide and he gulped, terrified, obviously. I could feel it. However, I couldn't focus on him for any longer. Maria had pulled away from the young man and allowed his sweet blood to trickle out of his neck. He collapsed to the ground and continued rasping, clutching at his neck and pleading for death. It was then Maria made her way over to where the man stood, back pressed against the barn's walls.

"No, no," he pleaded. "This was not my idea to come here, I didn't want this!" But it was too late, for Maria had wrapped her arms around his body, and like a spider to a fly, he was finished. He fell to the ground beside his friend and they both lay there, shaking like twitching corpses - still, they weren't dead… Not yet anyway. The smell of their blood filled the air and my mouth watered. Nettie's too, as feelings of ravenous hunger washed over her. Maria advanced towards us, inhaling deeply the scent of the air. She smiled at her own feelings of accomplishment and reached for my hand.

"Move, Lucy." She did so. I was pulled into Maria, her wicked smirk tugging at her bloody lips. "Control, Jasper. It's what everyone needs. You do not necessarily need the control you have just witnessed. You need emotional control. Take just now for example: your feelings of envy were as clear as daylight. No need to be jealous, my sweet. You'll get your share, if you just help me."

_Help_, she had said. _Help_, like she were in trouble. _Help_, like I would be the one to save her.

Perhaps I would.

Twenty years of living and it was only with death that my life seemed to be established. I laughed at the word life. Now, of course, it will always be used in a hypothetic content.

"How?" I breathed, attempting to sound at least a tiny bit confident but as I looked into her eyes, my self-reliance broke. I felt dependant on her. I mean, why wouldn't I? She had given me this life, after all. Maria smiled at me, obviously feeling my emotions and shook her head.

"In more ways than one." That's all that she had told me. I suppose I would find out sooner or later. In the military, we trained. It wasn't for long, of course and it was extensively dangerous, considering it was more 'being taught on the battlefield'. I hadn't realised it before but it was incredibly likely that I would be skilled in a whole new level of murder. Just like with hunting, it wasn't guns we used. What I found even more bemusing were Maria's intentions behind this training… My enemy… who would be on the backend of that title? The convulsing bodies on the ground caught my attention, as they struggled with the pain that consumed them. I couldn't quite understand the process of becoming a vampire but it certainly felt as if the venom were spreading through me like fire. Perhaps that's what it was. It was the same with anything poisonous - spiders, snakes, even frogs… Spiders and snakes use their toxin to paralyse their prey - same with vampires, I suppose. It's frogs that use their poison to defend themselves… but what would a vampire need defending for?

My thoughts were interrupted as Nettie roughly tugged at my arm.

"That's not fair!" She whined, almost childishly, at the brunette in front of her. "You bit him!" Nettie gritted her teeth. I didn't need to be an Empath to see that she was angry.

"I'm glad. You would have killed him." Maria was nonchalant as she walked away, stopping at the half-dead men on the floor. She kicked at their shaking feet, before having a sudden feeling of curiosity. "Jasper?" She called, without looking around. "Try to feel calm." My eyebrows raised. Calm? How could I feel calm? "Just try," she replied to the emotions of confusion I had just felt.

'_Just try.'_

I inhaled, slowly breathing in and out… Like that was going to help.

"But I can smell them - their blood. It's difficult -" She cut me off.

"Control, Jasper. It's now a virtue within you. Do not take advantage of this ability by not using it." I could control? How is an Empath meant to control someone else's emotions when they can't even control their own?

I concentrated hard - I really did! - and kept my gaze on the men. It wasn't working! I closed my eyes and frowned. I couldn't! My throat was burning. Blood still ran through their veins! I shook my head. No! Can't.

Maria exhaled and was now furious at me. My eyes shot to the ground and I kept them there. I didn't need to look at her right now. On Maria's orders, Nettie released my arm and followed Lucy out of the barn.

"Hatred, fear, worry, confusion - you can feel all those things but you can't feel calm? Picture yourself feeling it and hope that it'll happen! You have felt calm before, Jasper! It's within you, so feel it again!" She grabbed my arms and pushed me hard against the wall, so much so that it almost hurt. "Feel it! If you can't manage your own emotions, how are you going to handle me?" She was shouting now but all I could feel from her was disappointment. I had let her down? I had a tendency to do that. So many people continuously felt frustration at me. I couldn't do anything right. Not in life, nor in death. Forever just… Jasper.

_Do something right!_

I couldn't even obey my own commands.

"How can I hope if I can't even feel it?" As I had said that, Maria pulled away from me and narrowed her eyes, as she let out a small hiss.

"There is hope! It lies with me! Besides, each newborn is different. Some find dealing with their abilities to be easy, others don't have extra abilities and then there's you. You are about being in control. You don't have that sense yet but you will learn and when you do, that's when you know that hope has been there for you. I will be the one to provide it and I can help you, if… you… just… help me."

Again with that word _help._ She felt strong determination about this, before shooting me with one last glare of dissatisfaction and turning around, exiting the barn.

I had to prove my worth to her. I needed to help her.


	5. An Ignorant Sinner

Concentrate, Jasper. Concentrate!

I practiced for almost a week on the bees outside. It sounded silly but it was best to start off small. As they buzzed wildly, I sent out a wave of calm. It was easier with them. They were only made up of the tiniest guts and the smallest drop of insect. Not appetizing at all. I calmed them down and sat on the sandy ground, watching them for hours as they lifelessly hovered in front of me. They weren't drinking the nectar and their buzzing was as quiet as it could possibly be. I was quite proud of my minor accomplishment. I had managed to calm down one bee so much, it actually dropped dead. I picked it up by its wings and looked at it. I wonder what it tasted like? No, I wasn't going to try. They certainly didn't smell very good, and I wasn't about to eat bees like a tub of popcorn.

Eventually I got bored and moved onto bigger things - a big spider, a bird, a squirrel; even a lonely gator a few miles away from our residence… but none of this was enough. Leastways, not enough to prevent me from becoming wild at the slight scent of human blood in the air, causing the fire in my throat to take over any potential calmness within me. Though Maria was happy… no, not happy… excited to see that I could control my emotions a little better. I hadn't noticed, but it was true. Whenever I was in a room with Nettie or Lucy especially, I could hide what I was really feeling from them. The first few times it were difficult.

Suppressing emotions was not something I had grown accustomed to in my human life, but none of that mattered. This life was my entire focus, not just for me, but for Maria - my creator, my reason for being alive.

"Jasper," she said to me, after I'd come back from a rather ravenous hunt, "Come over here." I did what she asked, being by her side within a less than a second. I loved the fact that I could move fast and in an agile manner. It gave me a little needed self-confidence - not necessarily superiority, but strength of myself. "You've been doing so well, I thought you'd like a… treat…" The corner of Maria's mouth twitched up, into a suggestive smirk. I knew what that meant. She leant into me and as her lips met mine, I could feel her lust. It was the closest to love I'd felt in a long time.

Come to think of it, I couldn't remember what love felt like. Had my human memories already faded? Had I ever been in love before? There was no way to tell, so I embraced this moment I shared with Maria.

"You're well on your way to becoming my favourite necessity, Jasper Whitlock."

More days went by, according to Maria. I didn't feel the need to count days when I lived an immortal life. Maria had be counting down to when she expected me to be ready, whatever that meant. Something special, I thought. Now with us were several more men, some young, some old, but all with great potential. Maria had been showing them the right way to be a good vampire, like she had done with me, but she didn't put nearly as half as much effort with them.

There were some men I very vaguely recognised from the battle field, but I no longer held any memories when looking at their faces. I just saw a number.

"Maria," I told her, pride feeling my blood-red eyes, "That's fourteen now." She just smiled at me, emitting her emotions towards me - emotions of pride also. She was proud of… me. This was a wonderful thing as it made me even more motivated to help her. The more I did for her, the more she was pleased by me, the more I wanted to help her - just to experience her emotions again. She'd become like a second drug. Blood being the first. The treats she mentioned didn't all consist of lustful nights.

Hunting.

I lunged forward and pierced my bite into the human beneath my grip, grabbing my hands across its neck to make it easier for the blood to surge out. I had learnt how to leave less of a mess, much to my content. I was well on my way to becoming the vampire Maria wanted me to be.

"Did you do that, Jasper? The human hardly flinched, not until the last second anyway… You're improving." My confidence was constantly being increased with their positive comments, even from Nettie and Lucy - so much so, in fact, that they began to feel jealously towards each other.

"I already told Jasper how well he was doing. Don't copy me, Lucy. I said it first," Nettie would say. For a while it merely sounded like sisterly squabbles, but then it just got ridiculous, and it made me angry at how envious they became of Maria.

"They're getting all the blood they want," Maria ranted to me, "But they want more from me. What do they expect me to do? Give you up?"

I hated feeling Maria so angry. In my eyes, she deserved to be happy all the time, as she had done so much for us. She had given us a home, blood, good instructions; and best yet, immortality. Nettie and Lucy needed to see that.

"Is there anything I can do?" There was a pause from Maria as I asked that. For a second, she looked up at me, and then away again, as if she were in thought. I didn't want to be impatient with her, so I just stood composed and waiting.

"Yes…" She sounded uncertain. "They're going to hold us back…" She was still in thought, but then she looked up at me and her emotions that hit me will so different, it confused me. "They're going to hold us back, so I want you to deal with them… do you understand what I mean by that, Jasper?"

Then it struck me where I had previously felt her emotion. That particular emotion was no stranger to my being, especially in my first few months of this life. It was fury, rage, desperation, wrath… I had felt anger from Maria before but never in such a sinister way, like she was looking forward to see Nettie and Lucy out of the picture. I couldn't see why. Maria had always wanted to increase numbers, but now she wanted to eliminate two.

"You and I don't need them. Like I said, they're holding us back…" She told me, as if she could read my mind. Were my emotions on display again? Or was she so accustomed to me, I had become almost predictable?

Was that a good thing?

I frowned softly, and nodded my head, acknowledging Maria that I knew exactly what she meant. Feeling her emotions a last time to double check, I made my way to the next town. Undetected and hopefully in control of my hunger, I found them.

Nettie and Lucy would not be returning.


End file.
